On the heels of weeks of gradually building collector speculation and anticipation, Panini officials on Tuesday night released to Beckett Media the list of short-printed Rookie Cards from 2009-10 Playoff Contenders Basketball.

Just more than a third of Contenders’ 35 Rookie Cards are short printed, with six cards in a group limited to 499 or less and six more in a group limited to 649 or less.

“Unlike Playoff Contenders Football, where there were more than 100 rookies in the autographed Rookie Ticket subset, there are just 35 rookie players in Playoff Contenders Basketball,” said Panini Basketball Brand Manager David Porter. “But even with a considerably smaller rookie checklist, some of the Rookie Ticket cards were still produced in fewer quantities than others in the set.”